Kscope14 Day 3

Oh my goodness

Are we really at the halfway mark?  I suppose it depends on how you define the start of Kscope14.  Given my state of tiredness, I don’t know if I can count to 5 (or is it 6 or is it 4?) and then do a divide by 2.  No matter, Kscope14 is now in full swing.

And what does that mean, Cameron?

It means busy.  I should note that this state of business is true for everyone, not just me.  Or maybe especially not me.  I, thankfully, don’t have to work a booth.  I do have ODTUG (not too bad) and OTN (quite nice, actually) responsibilities but compared to doing the meet-and-greet that conference booth duty entails it’s nothing.  So I am not (well, maybe just a little, but this is hopefully the last time today) whining too much about it.

No really, what?

I am actually relaxing right now listening to Gary Crisci explain the nuances of ASO Design Principles for Financial Reporting.  I feel so…calm listening to Gary.  He’s really an excellent presenter:  a good speaker, extremely logical, and very, very, very thorough.  Yes, I am a fan.  And, unlike me, Gary is relaxed.  Isn’t he a little bit like Rick Moranis’ satire of Perry Como?  Perhaps I am the only one who sees it?

So where was the stress?

I am not presenting today but I was on two panels.  

The first was at 8:30 (eek!) on Tim German’s Essbase Optimization Panel with John Booth, Dave Collins, Edward Roske, and MMIC Glenn Schwartzberg.  Considering breakfast consisted of two cartons of milk and an energy bar (I have too little time to eat – That Is A Bad Thing) I think I managed not to embarrass myself too much.

The second, the OTN-sponsored Essbase ACE Lunch and Learn was at lunch time (food, so this was good).  It was moderated by the aforementioned Gary Crisci and the panelists included yr. obdt. srvt., Glenn Schwartzberg (Glenn, like me, fits the idiom a bad penny always turns up), Tim Tow, and John Booth.  

And that was all a bit tiring.  Happily, I am mostly obligation free for the rest of the day.  That means I get to look forward tonight to rehearsing with Tim German for our Evolution or Revolution:  The New Hybrid Essbase session.  For those of you interested in seeing the future of Essbase development (surely everyone?) you really ought to be there at 11:15 in room 604/603/602.

So is the above a whine?  I guess you could argue that it is, but it’s all tremendous fun, despite the level of effort, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Are you here?  Do you agree?  What, you aren’t here?  Why?

If Oracle technology is important to you, and you like to stay informed, aka employed, I can’t think of any other place on God’s green earth that is a better place to learn, meet the experts (obviously someone other than me), have fun, and figure out what the next step in your career will be.

I know I’ll see you next year.

And for those of you who are here, don’t you agree?  Send your huzzahs care of this blog.

Be seeing you.

I cover the Antipodes

Okay, technically they’re only the Antipodes if you live in England. And, if you look at a globe, it’s easy to tell that this is just a figure of speech, not a direction for a Journey To The Center Of The Earth. In fact, near as I can tell, China fits for the States if I were to transfer the analogy to where I live. And that makes sense because that movie about Three Mile Island was called The China Syndrome and not The New Zealand Syndrome. (True story – I can remember as a kid my parents sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out where to bug out if York, PA became a radioactive wasteland. Fun times, fun times. This stuff is safe, right? Riiiiight.) Have I lost everyone? Hopefully not, because there is good stuff to come.

Anyway, I am not in the nuclear power industry (and that is a good thing given my sometimes decided lack of attention and focus) nor am I going to China, but yr. obdnt. srvnt. is going to both New Zealand and Australia for two conferences. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment but I was asked and I said “Yes” before anyone could change his mind.

New Zealand
The New Zealand Oracle Users Group has its conference every 18 months. NZOUG 2013 is from 18 to 19 March 2013 in Te Papa, Wellington, NZ. In theory, I was the content chairman for the BI and EPM track at this conference but I have to admit that this really meant that I bugged, bothered, and pestered Erica Harris, Richard Philipson, and what seems like most of Oracle Australia/New Zealand (thanks to Kay Galbraith and Daniel O’Brien) with trying to figure out what would be appropriate content for NZ and who oh who would present. They did a great job identifying people to speak. NZOUG does quality work and their agenda is very strong. I plan on checking out the other tracks (something I never seem to be able to do at Kscope) while I am there as well as presenting two sessions, one on ODI and data quality (hey, come to NZ or buy my book and read my chapter on this) and the other, excitingly, on Dodeca. Now I just have to finish writing it.

Check out the agenda here.

Here’s what’s planned for BI and EPM:

• Exploring Oracle BI Apps: How does it work and what do I get ? - Richard Philipson
  James & Monroe
• The spreadsheet management system known as Dodeca - Cameron Lackpour
  CL Solve
• Oracle Business Intelligence: Model First, Build Later - Daniel O'Brien
  Oracle Corporation
• Slay the evil of bad data in Essbase with ODI - Cameron Lackpour
  CL Solve 
• Infrastructure Preparations for Hyperion EPM 11.1.2.2 - Charles Naslund
  Indigo New Zealand
• Oracle BI Apps - Recommendations for Effective Implementation - John Hooker
  Asparona
• EPM Case Study: Rank Group - Richard Philipson
  James & Monroe
• Closing BI/EPM Panel - Cameron Lackpour
  CL Solve

The important bits are: NZOUG 2013 is from 18 to 19 March in Te Papa, Wellington and costs a mere 795 +GST NZD if you are a member and register under the early bird scheme. Read the full agenda – there’s amazing value for money.

Australia
Ah, another country, and a slightly different group of people to exasperate, although in this case it’s fellow board member and Oracle ACE Bambi Price that I think I annoyed the most and of course Oracle Australia (hi, Kay, and yeah, I owe you). Again, I helped out with the agenda and yes, I have written about this before for the ODTUG blog where you can read all about it.

This is an ODTUG Seriously Practical conference (NZOUG is their own full Oracle product line show show, I am just there to present and help with the BI and EPM content selection) and as such will focus a deep dive into the technical end of the BI and EPM tools. Yes, I am presenting the same two sessions at this conference and no, there will not be many NZers (I just made that word up as “Kiwis” is a bit twee) in Melbourne so I don’t view this approach as a rerun. More like a keep-Cameron-on-the-ragged-edge-of-sanity-because-he-takes-too-much-on approach.

Check out the agenda here.

Here’s what’s planned for BI and EPM:

• Haleem Jan Babar, Oracle – What’s coming in BI and EPM
• Debra Lilley, Fujitsu – BI and EPM in Fusion
• Richard Philipson, James & Monroe – Exploring BI apps
• Christine Aird M-Power Solutions – HFM good practices
• Maneesh Disawal, James & Monroe – OBIEE dashboards
• Eman Seif M-Power Solutions – ASO Essbase
• Paul Anderson, Oracle – Proactive Support
• Yr. Obdnt. Svnt., CL Solve – ODI/Essbase/data quality and Dodeca

The important bits are: the ODTUG SP Australia is from 21 to 22 March in Melbourne and costs a mere 599 AUD. Read the full agenda – there’s amazing value for money. Again. 

This is pretty exciting stuff
Okay, the flight in economy from home to NZ to Aus to NZ to LA to home is not exciting. At all. But helping out with BI and EPM geeks on the other side of the world is exciting. Yes, they have odd sounding accents (of course to them I’m the one with the weird way of pronouncing things and the incomprehensible slang) but their passion and commitment to technical knowledge, sharing, and evangelism is just like what you see here in the States with ODTUG’s events. I’m beyond happy and proud to help out and I’m hoping that both events will be a great success.

Thanks to the magic of Google Analytics, I know that both NZ and Australia read this blog. Australasians, if you have ever wondered what kind of idiot I am in person, now’s your chance. :) Seriously, they’re both good presentations and you can always go get a cup of tea (ah, real tea, I wonder what the NZ/Aus. version of Typhoo or PG Tips is) if I prattle on too much. I hope that you’ll be able to come to the conference that is closest – as you can see from the above there’s really some great content on offer.

Be seeing you.